Rich Eichelberger, Gene Knaub and Greg Diehl Win Williams Grove Speedway
Saturday Features
Mechanicsburg, PA
May 24, 2015
Rich Eichelberger broke a string of mechanical issues by
winning the Williams Grove Speedway Saturday Night Series Blazer’s Body Shop
Super Sportsman feature. His $1,400
victory came in the 25-lap Bill Heckert Memorial championship.
Rich Eichelberger began the event on the outside of the
front row. Cautions on laps one and two slowed the event’s pace.
On the third lap contact with another car sent Scott Geesey’s machine,
Geesey winner of the first two shows, into the third turn fencing.
The contact eliminated Geesey from the race.
Rich Eichelberger, from York Springs, continued setting a
fast pace. Kenny Edkins and Russ
Mitten had a close fight for second.
Mitten took control of second during the seventh circuit.
The race came to a halt in the 11th lap when
Stan Wanner’s machine flipped in turn three. Wanner walked away from his spill.
Rich Eichelberger, following the restart, gained an
eight-length lead over Russ Mitten.
A second red flag occurred during the 15th circuit when oil from an
expired engine in Mike Enders’ entry covered a wide area of racing surface.
Eichelberger continued his domination of the show.
The battle was for third with Jay Fannasy, Doug Dodson and Frankie Herr
in close battle. Rich Eichelberger
won his 10th career Saturday Night Series feature by 50 yards over
Russ Mitten. Jay Fannasy edged out
Doug Dodson for fourth with Frankie Herr in fifth.
Heat wins for the 32 entries went to Scott Dellinger,
Geesey, Enders, and Herr. Tony
Jackson won the consolation. Steve Wilbur received the Sprint Aces Hard Charger
award. The Hard Luck award went to
Mike Enders.
Bernie Beard led the opening circuit of the 20-lap Credit
Connection Auto Sales 358 Late Model feature.
Pat Beard held second position with Sam Gallagher in third. Gene Knaub,
the seventh-place starter, was in fourth.
Following a lap two restart, Knaub was in third behind
Bernie Beard and Pat Beard. Gene
Knaub swept by Pat Beard during the fifth lap.
One lap later Knaub challenged leader Bernie Beard.
The lead duo battled side-by-side for two laps before Knaub settled into
second.
Gene Knaub, in the ninth circuit, used the low lane to pull
even with Bernie Beard. After a
one-lap duel, Knaub gained first position at the exit of the second turn.
Knaub’s comfortable lead disappeared on the final lap due
to a red flag for a Cam Zeigler crash.
Zeigler’s car crashed heavily into the back stretch fencing.
Zeigler walked away from the incident.
Gene Knaub, from Dover, dominated the final lap, winning by
12 lengths over Bernie Beard. Knaub
is the all-time leading Saturday Night Series feature winner and this is his 44th
career triumph. Pat Beard was third with Ron Kline in fourth and Billy Wampler
was fifth. Kline and Travis Mease
won the preliminaries for the 20 cars.
The Artwerks Hard Charger award went to Shaun Jones.
Eric Tripp shot into the lead at the start of the 15-lap
Aquafun Pools Street Stock main.
Steven Dove was second with Bob Scott in third.
Greg Diehl advanced from his fifth-starting position into fourth.
Tripp, Dove and Diehl had a close fight for the lead.
In the fifth pass of the oval the lead trio were door-to-door at the exit
of turn two. There was contact
resulting in a broken wheel on Dove’s machine.
Chris Derr’s car made hard contact with Dove’s crippled machine
triggering a large back stretch crash.
Dove’s car rolled over in the melee.
All drivers walked away from the wreck.
Eric Tripp, following the restart, continued to lead with
Greg Diehl in second. One lap later
Diehl went to the bottom of turns three and four to wrestle the lead from Tripp.
Diehl, from New Cumberland, set sail and had a large lead.
Jason Geesaman advanced into second with two-time feature winner Jeff
Haag in third. Geesaman and Haag
narrowed the gap in the final laps.
Greg Diehl won his 10th Saturday Night Series career feature by 15
lengths over Jason Geesaman, Jeff Haag, Craig Morgan, and Bob Scott.
Mike Buckley, Tripp and Diehl won the qualifiers for the 28
entries. The Artwerks Hard Charger
award went to Doug Bennett.
The Saturday Night Series returns to action this weekend.
Blazer’s Body Shop Super Sportsman, Credit Connection Auto Sales 358 Late
Models and Aquafun Pools Street Stocks will be in competition.
Racing begins at 7 PM. Adult
admission remains at six dollars with children 12 and under free.
Super Sportsman
results:
1. Rich Eichelberger, 2. Russ Mitten, 3. Jay Fannasy, 4.
Doug Dodson, 5. Frankie Herr, 6. Scott Dellinger, 7. Chad Trout, 8. Paul Miller,
9. Kenny Edkins, 10. Bobby Hockenberry, 11. Chad Smith, 12. Steve Wilbur, 13.
Teddy Thomas, 14. Adam Wray, 15. Bill Devine, 16. Timmie Barrick, 17. Mike
Enders, 18. Tony Jackson, 19. Stan Wanner, 20. Duaine Smith, 21. Tom Wyckoff,
22. Todd Leonard, 23. Scott Geesey, 24. Lanny Hake DNQ: Steve Fannasy, Dave
Conrad Jr., Justin Foster, Davey Walsh, Devin Beidel, Chad Criswell, Luke Lenker,
Nate Young
358 Late Model
results:
1. Gene Knaub, 2. Bernie Beard, 3. Pat Beard, 4. Ron Kline,
5. Billy Wampler, 6. Wes Alleman, 7. Dan Zechman, 8. Shaun Jones, 9. Sam
Gallagher, 10. Scott Richwine, 11. Travis Mease, 12. Dave Latsha, 13. Al Cheney,
14. Alan Sagi, 15. Cam Zeigler, 16. Justin Peachey, 17. Brad Shank, 18. Sam Rial,
19. Daulton Bigler DNS: Justin Ehrhart
Street Stock
results:
1. Greg Diehl, 2. Jason Geesaman, 3. Jeff Haag, 4. Craig
Morgan, 5. Bob Scott, 6. Mike Buckley, 7. Kevin Sigler, 8. Eric Tripp, 9. Chris
Heller, 10. Doug Bennett, 11. Ed Halter, 12. Sean Dawson, 13. Dustin Hollinger,
14. Danny Farlling, 15. Scott Strickler, 16. Sean Todd, 17. Cory Phillips, 18.
Doug Hoffman, 19. Chris Derr, 20. Charlie Pensinger, 21. Walt Lemmon, 22. Todd
Bowersox, 23. Steven Dove, 24. Brett Pickel.
DNQ: Dave Goode, Dave Bowermaster, Randy Zechman